Category: Traffic Questions

Court supervision, to most people, is a way to keep one’s record clean of an offense. It’s often called many names: deferred prosecution, traffic school, dismissal, etc. While this sounds good on paper, it’s important to know what exactly court supervision is so you can protect your license. The explanations that follow relate only to Illinois drivers license holders. Out of state drivers are governed by different systems and should consult an attorney in their home state to verify how an offense will impact their record. Additionally, commercial license holders and other license holders with special privileges such as bus operations do not apply the the below advice. Likewise, they should consult a traffic attorney in their home state for more information. With that said, let’s discuss court supervision.

When one is found guilty of a traffic violation, they can be convicted or given supervision. A conviction is a public reporting of guilt that is available to insurance companies and employer driving record checks. A conviction can harm your insurance rates. A conviction also may impact your driving privileges resulting in suspension or revocation. Court supervision by contrast is less publicly recorded. Only police, prosecutors, courts, the Secretary of State, attorneys like myself, and the driver themselves can see supervisions. This prevents insurance rate increases and employer record checks from seeing these offenses. In almost all circumstances, court supervision will not affect your driving privileges (some exceptions exist such as underage alcohol related tickets and insurance violations where this is not the case). Having a traffic attorney review your case can verify your risk of driving record harm.

With its many benefits, court supervision is often sought in traffic court. Unfortunately, it is not a guarantee. Court supervision may only be granted twice in a twelve month period with some offenses like insurance violations being more limited. Other offenses like school zone speeding and bus passing tickets are ineligible for supervision. With so many violations and restrictions, it is important to speak to a traffic attorney in a free consultation before proceeding to verify supervision is even possible. We are ready and happy to provide guidance to answer all your questions in a FREE consultation. Call today and speak to a lawyer at (630) 445-2293!

For many people, court supervision is a great option to protect their record. It can prevent points on your license, insurance rate increases, and protect your public driving record. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case for everyone. For commercial drivers, federal law complicates court supervision. As a result of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and its policies, states are not allowed to “mask” or hide offenses a commercial driver is found guilty of. Court supervisions that would ordinarily keep offenses off one’s public record must be reported publicly. This rule applies regardless of if the offense occurred in your personal vehicle or your commercial vehicle though some violations such as failing to carry a commercial driver’s license require your commercial motor vehicle. This public reporting can increase your insurance rates for not only your personal policy, but also your company’s policy as your record affects your employer’s Department of Transportation number by which rates are calculated.

While commercial drivers don’t generally enjoy protection for supervision, there are instance where a commercial driver may receive those benefits. In general, supervision will prevent an offense from being public on the record if the ticket was issued prior to issuance of a commercial driver’s license, commercial learner’s permit, or beginning of training for a commercial driver’s license. If a ticket was issued prior to these instances, the driver is not held to the standards of the FMCSA and public reporting of supervisions are not required. For an accounting of whether your offense can benefit from this exception, you should contact a traffic attorney to review your ticket and driving record.

Due to the public reporting requirement, your only options to protect your record is to win at trial or have the ticket amended to a non-moving violation. Unlike publicly reported offenses, Illinois is not required to report the non-moving violations of commercial drivers. Common non-moving amendments change moving violations to offenses such as improper parking, loud muffler, cracked or obstructed windshield, overlength vehicle, and failure to obey traffic laws. These are often called equipment violations. It is important to have an attorney review your offense to determine whether it is a moving violation as some offenses such as broken headlights are categorized as moving violations in spite of being an equipment issue.

In closing, It’s important to take caution when considering court supervision. Even well intentioned police officers encourage supervision for commercial drivers when unaware of the risk to their livelihood. Know the risks of requesting supervision before seeking it and consider consulting an attorney for a consultation to ensure you protect your record.

For those of you who are unaware, court supervision is essentially a promise that you won’t violate any criminal, ordinance, or traffic laws during the supervising period in exchange for the ticket not being on your public driving record. It is also a promise that you will pay all fines and court costs as well as any other sentencing obligations such as completing traffic school. As such, receiving a new traffic ticket can result in your supervision being revoked. If that happens, you can be convicted of the ticket making it public for insurance companies to see and it can harm your driving privileges.

With that said, there are steps that can be taken to avoid court supervision from being revoked. First, it is always advised that you comply with all other terms of your sentence. If you have paid your fines and done traffic school, prosecutors are more hesitant to revoke your supervision which is contingent on them showing that your violation was the result of a willful intent to not not meet the terms of your sentence.

Depending on the nature of the violating ticket, some prosecutors are less prone to violating your supervision. If it is the same type or a more serious ticket as the one you are on supervision for, it is more likely they may revoke you. In such situations, an attorney’s assistance is more advisable.

If your supervision is set to terminate very soon, another option is to delay resolving your pending case that violated your supervision. In many cases, prosecutors are dependent on driving records to determine whether supervision has been violated. If a case is pending in a county separate from your supervising county, the supervising county is very unlikely to have knowledge of the violating ticket. Only when you are found guilty would such a ticket appear on your driving record.

Lastly, plan to be in court for your new ticket. Many state’s attorney’s offices have standing policies to reject court supervision requests out of court if you have had a ticket in the past 12 months. Therefore, in order to request court supervision, your best option is to plan to appear in court where you can, in most cases, be considered eligible for court supervision so long as you haven’t had it twice in the last 12 months.

DISCLAIMER: This comment is not designed to provide legal advice as each person’s situation is distinct. If you would like to seek legal advice for your specific circumstances, please feel free to contact my office at (630) 445-2293 for a free consultation.

For those of you who are unaware, court supervision is essentially a promise that you won’t violate any criminal, ordinance, or traffic laws during the supervising period in exchange for the ticket not being on your public driving record. It is also a promise that you will pay all fines and court costs as well as any other sentencing obligations such as completing traffic school. As such, receiving a new traffic ticket can result in your supervision being revoked. If that happens, you can be convicted of the ticket making it public for insurance companies to see and it can harm your driving privileges.

With that said, there are steps that can be taken to avoid court supervision from being revoked. First, it is always advised that you comply with all other terms of your sentence. If you have paid your fines and done traffic school, prosecutors are more hesitant to revoke your supervision which is contingent on them showing that your violation was the result of a willful intent to not not meet the terms of your sentence.

Depending on the nature of the violating ticket, some prosecutors are less prone to violating your supervision. If it is the same type or a more serious ticket as the one you are on supervision for, it is more likely they may revoke you. In such situations, an attorney’s assistance is more advisable.

If your supervision is set to terminate very soon, another option is to delay resolving your pending case that violated your supervision. In many cases, prosecutors are dependent on driving records to determine whether supervision has been violated. If a case is pending in a county separate from your supervising county, the supervising county is very unlikely to have knowledge of the violating ticket. Only when you are found guilty would such a ticket appear on your driving record.

Lastly, plan to be in court for your new ticket. Many state’s attorney’s offices have standing policies to reject court supervision requests out of court if you have had a ticket in the past 12 months. Therefore, in order to request court supervision, your best option is to plan to appear in court where you can, in most cases, be considered eligible for court supervision so long as you haven’t had it twice in the last 12 months.

DISCLAIMER: This comment is not designed to provide legal advice as each person’s situation is distinct. If you would like to seek legal advice for your specific circumstances, please feel free to contact my office at (630) 445-2293 for a free consultation.

This is a very common question we receive quite often. Before we dive in, we would like to address what court supervision is so we are on the same page:

Court supervision is an alternative to conviction that allows drivers to avoid an offense being recorded to their public record. In exchange for not receiving any tickets for a predetermined period of months, payment of fines, and other agreed upon obligations like traffic school, the case is closed without a conviction. This prevents damage to one’s license and visibility of the offense on public records (the kind insurance companies and employers may access). Contrary to popular belief, it does however remain on non-public portions of your driving record. Visibility to this so called court purposes record is limited to the driver themselves, courts, police, prosecutors, attorneys, and the Secretary of State. In this way, insurance companies and employers cannot view them.

First, we have to answer whether you are eligible for court supervision. Most tickets are supervision eligible but there are some exceptions such as speeding in a school zone. Before you attempt a request at court supervision, it is worth speaking to an attorney to see if your ticket is among these. If your offense is eligible, you need to see if you are eligible for supervision. A driver is eligible if they have not received court supervision twice in the last 12 months. How this rule is applied varies depending on the prosecutor and the county but in general, this is the rule as it is used in most courts. If you meet these requirements, you are supervision eligible.

Second, you must see if a court appearance is required to receive court supervision. Although one is eligible for supervision twice in a 12 month period, prosecutors generally have an unofficial rule to deny supervision requests if a driver had a ticket within 12 months UNLESS that driver appears in court. While this does carry the likelihood of court costs, it is far more likely to increase chances of court supervision whether or not you have had a ticket in the past 12 months.

Third, were you on supervision when you received your most recent ticket. If so, your supervision from the previous county could be at risk. In addition, your second ticket will be less likely to be granted court supervision. In spite of this, you would be still eligible for court supervision though it is less likely to be offered. It is important that you do not lie about the other ticket as prosecutors can access supervision records.

Finally, after reviewing all of these, the court will make a determination of whether supervision will be available if you can be legally offered it. To have a more complete picture of whether supervision is likely in a case, call (630) 445-2293 for a FREE consultation.

Fear not! This value does not represent the amount that you owe on the ticket. Rather, this value represents the sum of money you will owe in the event that you fail to comply with the requirements of the ticket.

How does this work? When giving a ticket, the officer can allow you to leave only after ensuring that the court has some leverage to make you comply with your obligations under the ticket (going to court, etc.). This leverage is referred to as bond. Sometimes bond takes the form of a cash deposit or surrender of one’s drivers license. In these cases, fear of losing the cash deposited or driving privileges respectively is used to ensure compliance with the ticket’s terms. The most common and least intrusive option is called an individual bond. The driver signs the ticket creating a contract that they will comply with its terms. If the driver fails to meet the requirements of the ticket, the court may impose a financial penalty up to the amount indicated. In legalese, this is known as a bond forfeiture, and on individual bonds, the amount usually ranges from $1,000-$2,500. If however you do follow the requirements of the ticket, there is no basis for them to issue a bond forfeiture in that amount and you have nothing to worry about with regards to that number.

If you have found that you owe any amount over $1,000 to the court for a non-DUI related traffic violation, it is possible that you may have a bond forfeiture. Rather than pay it, it is best to speak to a traffic attorney about the prospect of filing a motion to reduce or eliminate entirely the fine.

Have a question about what we’ve provided here? Let us know below in our comments section!

Typically, we imagine driver’s license points as a system to determine when our license is suspended. Often, it is hard to know how many points you have and what impact, if any, they may have on your record. If you have ever pondered that, this guide is for you.

In Illinois, a driver receives points on their license for any moving violation with different values depending on severity of the offense. Illinois is unique however in that the number of points has no relation to whether a driver’s license will be suspended. Rather, an Illinois driver’s license will be suspended if too many moving violation convictions occur in too short a period of time regardless of point value. When too many violations occur, the combined point values of the offenses that triggered the suspension are used to determine the length of the suspension term.

Here is a simplified explanation of the three methods for suspending a driver for too many moving violations:

A driver is cited and later convicted of TWO moving violations issued both within TWO years of each other and before the driver’s 21st birthday.

A driver previously suspended for the above rule is later convicted of ONE new moving issued before the driver’s 21st birthday.

A driver is cited and later convicted of THREE moving violations issued both within ONE year of each other and on or after the driver’s 21st birthday.

One of these three rules almost always is at play when discussing whether a driver will be suspended for too many moving violations. While some moving violations may be easy to identify, it can be risky to make assumptions. For example, not having headlights, an equipment violation, can be a moving violation while operating an unsafe motor vehicle is not. Furthermore, there are specific offenses, immediate action offenses, which can trigger a suspension with only a single ticket that we will be discussing tomorrow. To best protect yourself, seek out a free consultation with a traffic attorney to ensure you know what kind of offense you are facing.

To set up emailed renewal notices, you can visit https://www.ilsos.gov/greenmail/ and enter your PIN and registration ID. Where do you get these? You can call (217) 785-3000, then option 7. This is the public inquiry section. From here, you can receive your pin and registration ID over the phone if you are listed as an owner of the vehicle, have the license plate number, and can verify your address. After you have these, sign up for emailed renewal reminders.

As for these tickets, most prosecutors are understanding of these tickets and in nearly every county I’ve seen these tickets come up, so long as there was never a suspended registration (a result common with multiple insurance violations), tickets for expired registration are among one of the most often dismissed tickets. If you received a ticket for having expired registration, immediately renew your registration and bring the receipt from your renewed registration to court in addition to a photo of your license plate with the new sticker affixed. In many cases, so long as you fix the issue, most prosecutors are willing to throw out these tickets with proof of compliance and taking these steps gives the best chance of these tickets being dismissed.

Disclaimer: Commentary posted here is general in nature and is not intended to be legal advice specific to any one person’s case. If you have a ticket and would like advice as to the facts of your case, please schedule a consultation so the specifics of your case can be addressed.

Answer: When a traffic ticket is issued, a court case is created that can end several different ways. Finding of not guilty, dismissal of charges, or a finding of guilty are just a few of these. In traffic court, guilty judgments are divided into two categories: convictions and court supervisions. In general, the big difference is what impact it can have on your driving privileges, insurance, employment, and record.

A conviction (also called conditional discharge) is a sentence which appears on your public driving record. This record is available for insurance companies and employers to access and can result in higher rates and lost job opportunities respectively. It also can harm your license resulting in points on your license, suspensions, or revocations of your privileges.

Court supervision by contrast is an alternative to conviction. The court sets a period of time (1-12 months usually but up to 24) where no new tickets can be received and all terms of your sentence must be completed (may include traffic school, fines, community service, etc). If these terms are successfully met, the case is terminated without a conviction. No conviction means that employers and insurance companies won’t see it on your public driving record keeping your rates down and employers in the dark (this privacy however does not exist for commercial driver’s license holders). In addition, because it is not a conviction, in almost all instances, supervision will not harm a license. Beware that some offenses like underage alcohol possession can still affect one’s license even with court supervision.

For more information on what offenses are eligible for court supervision, how a conviction/court supervision will affect your license, or what you can do to avoid a conviction, schedule a free consultation with a traffic attorney.

Answer: Pleading guilty to an accident ticket is almost never a good idea. These tickets, more than any other moving violation, are among the most commonly thrown out tickets in any traffic court. Prematurely pleading guilty can result in paying fines and court costs that could have otherwise been avoided. It can harm your driving record as well and potentially result in a license suspension if you’ve had other tickets recently. This however is just the minor risk of pleading guilty to these tickets.

The more serious risk comes with potential civil liability and lawsuits from victims seeking financial damages against the driver. By pleading guilty, you are formally admitting that you caused the accident. This statement can and will likely be used against you in future civil litigation ensues. So how can you help prevent this from occurring?

Never mail the ticket in with payment of the fine. Doing so is a written guilty plea. Instead, be prepared to attend traffic court by following the instructions on the ticket. Traffic court gives you the opportunity to not only avoid pleading guilty to the offense but also makes it possible to have the ticket dismissed if the officer did not witness the accident and the victim does not appear in court when required. Before attending court, take time to schedule a free consultation with an attorney so we can assess the risk of civil liability that can result from the accident and analyze the best way to minimize/eliminate the impact of this ticket.

Disclaimer: Commentary posted here is general in nature and is not intended to be legal advice specific to any one person’s case. If you have a ticket and would like advice as to the facts of your case, please schedule a consultation so the specifics of your case can be addressed.